CPL Preview: St.Kitts and Nevis Patriots v Guyana Amazon Warriors

After last night’s exciting opening act, the St.Kitts and Nevis Patriots take on the Guyana Amazon Warriors in Basseterre in match two. PlayON looks at the fantasy options in tonight’s game.

Last year St.Kitts and Nevis were the new kids of the CPL, and despite some exciting performances, finished in last place. This year’s draft acquisitions of Lendl Simmons and Faf Du Plessis have fortified the batting line up, and a lot more can be expected of them in 2016.

Opening opponents don’t come much harder than the Guyana Amazon Warriors, who finished 2nd in the group before losing a semi-final to the eventual champions, Trinbago Knight Riders. They also swept the Patriots in last year’s fixtures and will be looking for a third victory tonight.

Both sides have a number of good fantasy options so we’ve picked out three from each worth considering for your teams.

St.Kitts and Nevis

Lendl Simmons: Simmons averages over 40 in CPL matches, with eight half-centuries from 30 innings. He also led the Indian Premier League in runs a couple of years ago and is a useful occasional bowler. The opener is one of the best batsmen in the competition and a lot will be expected of him as he fills the shoes of last year’s top run scorer Marlon Samuel.

Faf du Plessis: The South African international is a major signing for the Patriots and will immediately give their batting line up a huge boost. He averages 38 in T20 internationals at an even more impressive strike rate of 132.64. Du Plessis also brings leadership to side, having captained South Africa at T20 level.

Krishmar Santokie: The bowler is relatively unheralded at international level, but he’s been consistently excellent in the CPL throughout his career. Santokie has take 49 wickets in the last three years of the competition, with an average under 20 every year. He also bowls a lot of dot balls and rarely gets hit out of the attack.

Guyana Amazon Warriors

Dwayne Smith: Smith struggled a little while opening the batting for the Barbados Tridents last year, but he’s as accomplished and experienced a T20 cricketer as the Warriors have in their squad. The West Indian international has played over 250 T20 games in his career, including 70 in the IPL with an average over 30. He also had two centuries in the CPL in 2014.

Chris Lynn: Lynn burst onto the scene in last year’s tournament, where he often played foil to Chris Gayle as the Jamaica Tallawahs number three. Those performances saw him get an IPL contract and he also performed well at the Big Bash in Australia. The Australian is a powerful batsman, capable of hitting plenty of sixes.

Adam Zampa: Zampa is a young, talented leg spinner who performed extremely well during the Big Bash, taking 12 wickets at an average of 22. Those performances got him selected in Australia’s one day squads, and his ability to turn the ball could be very useful on pitches that have tended to help spinners in previous years.